Biography
THE HISTORY OF THE BAND
Torstein Flakne and Terje Storli met for the first time in 1976 as competitors in a small talent competition in Trondheim. They were playing in different bands at the time, Terje played in «Fiction» and Torstein played in «Crash and Fire». They would know little by then that they would later start one of the most popular rock bands in Norwegian history, touring the globe and keep thousands of concerts.
At the time, there was many hopeful new bands aiming for the stars in and around Trondheim. It was quite possible to afford to be living by playing as the entire Trøndelag region needed live music every weekend. Band buses qued out of Trondheim every Friday afternoon and the reach for the status and fame was lit in many young eyes.
BIG HITS AND GREAT SUCCESS
Torstein gradually started a band named «The Kids» with his childhood buddies and got a national rocket boost career by the Norwegian summer-of-1980-hit «Hun er Forelska i lærer’n». The environment in Trondheim was really close and musicians shifted bands as often «as they shifted ladies…» Terje went to «Hot Lips» together with Erlend Antonsen, drummer of «Subway Suck» who won Trøndersk Championship of Rock in 1979. When «Hot Lips» needed a rental guitarist summer 1983, Torstein was contacted, and he needed some “quick cash” and a few exercises later when Torstein, Terje and Erlend together jammed old ‘Stones songs at rehearsals in Ilsvikøra in Trondheim, Stage Dolls were born.
Their musical career sky rocketed when Stage Dolls toured Trøndelag and eventually throughout Norway with great success. In 1985 they released their first album, «Soldier’s gun», for many that year’s Norwegian rock album #1 and Stage Dolls played many concerts for a growing fan base. The album was nominated for musical awards that year. In spring 1986 they released «Commandos» and now they also caught international attention. «Commandos» was released in the United States, and it was clear that Stage Dolls had overseas opportunities.
US RELEASE AND EUROPEAN TOUR
This struck when Chrysalis Records’ signed the band to their label in 1988 and released their third album «Stage Dolls» in USA. The song «Love Cries» peked at 44 on Billboard’s list summer 1989. In Norway, the album sales reached gold and Stage Dolls topped several radio lists besides touring in the US, Europe and Norway. The success continued in 1990, a European tour throughout the summer and release of the album ‘Stripped’ came to include perhaps their biggest hit «Love don’t bother me». The video was recorded in the Mojave Desert, California with eg. Kate Moss in one of the roles and the song was also included in the most popular film in Norway that year «Frida – med hjertet i hånden».
10 YEAR ANIVERSARY
Stage Dolls celebrated 10 year anniversary in 1993 with the compilation album «Stories we could tell». From this came the mega-hit «Hard to say goodbye», it would never end and Stage Dolls toured vigorously throughout 1993 – 1994. The boys needed a break and Stage Dolls waited 3 long years before they entered the studio next time. «Dig» was released in 1997, perhaps their most rocking album to date. In the late 90s came the «Unplugged» wave and Stage Dolls did a number of unplugged gigs around Norway, many old time fans showed up, enjoyed the shows and had a great time.
«GOOD TIMES»
It provided the basis for a new compilation album in 2003. «Good times» became a mega-success and sold to double-gold. Many new fans opened their ears to this amazing band and the following tour played to full houses. It peaked with an incredible anniversary concert in Trondheim in front of 4,000 fans at the fall of 2003. Stage Dolls went back to the studio again and released «Get a life» in 2004, the guys were back with a bundle of melodic rock songs in unmistakable Stage Dolls style. Several years followed with many concerts and great success.
"Always"
In 2010 came their last complete album so far, «Always» received critical acclaim and went to #1 on the charts. Besides of touring Norway every summer, Stage Dolls have released several singles in recent years, last song «One of These Days» was released in spring 2015.
2016
The year began with the band launched as one of the participants in Eurovision 2016 with the song «Into the fire», this competition took place on national broadcaster NRK on the 27. February in 2016 with a big show in Oslo Spektrum. The band put on a good show but didn’t make it to the finals this time. -We had a good time, said Terje, and that’s what it’s all about. The Band toured the whole summer of 2016 in Norway and ended the year with a sold out X-mas show tour with their friends Return.
2017
Torstein had used the summer and fall of 2016 well and written a lot of new stuff for the band. They went into their old playground Nidaros Studio in November 2016 and started work on the new material. Their first producer Bjørn Nessjø joined in on the work and 6 songs were recorded in one session in January 2017. Some of these songs needed strings so the boys took the trip to New York together with Bjørn for some sessions there in March 2017. The first release from this work was ‘Hey Rock’n Roll’, a good time rock song released for streaming and downloading in June 2017. The followed up with the mid tempo song ‘the One’ later in the year getting very good reviews.
The summer was business as usual with a lot of shows at festivals in Norway and in October the boys took a flight to Madrid and played for their fans there. Finally, in 2017, they did their annual X-Mas tour with their good friends Return playing packed houses in Norway.
2018
The band got the message in Nov 2017, they were elected into the Norwegian Rock’n Roll Hall of Fame! The Indictment came as a surprise for the band but they’re very grateful and are looking forward to the ceremony on May 27th. Right now, the summer tour is being booked and it looks to be a fantastic year for the band.
The Summer We Won't Forget
One day on May 2020, Torstein sat watching the news about this unlikely situation and out of the blue came a song that said it all, ‘The Summer We Won’t Forget’ turned out to be one of the most played songs on Norwegian Radio the summer of 2020. Kind of Un-Stage Dolls’ish, it tells the tale about how we all were worried but still took care of each other.
2021/22
2021 saw the band touring a lot again in their usual way with the Marshalls and the Ampegs:) It was almost like returning to normal after a long break. But then as we know, the pandemic hit with a new wave at the end of the year so at the beginning of 2022, everything was in the open again. Stage Dolls has planned to play a lot of gigs through 2022, and luckily things calmed down and back to normal.
2023
Fast forward to 2023, the 40th year in the history of the band. Thousands of gigs, hundreds of songs and countless musical moments…
In the midst of their Summer Tour in 2023 Stage Dolls played Tons of Rock in Oslo, the biggest rock Festival in Norway. 30000 fans turnes up and sang along to the soundtrack of their lives.
In the fall, the band released two new tracks, ‘Guess I must be dreamin’ and ‘Two Eagles’ to the fans’ delight, and there’s more to come.
To celebrate the 40 years, Stage Dolls ended the year with playing a full Trondheim Spektrum in their hometown, an unbelievable ‘Night To Remember’ for both the fans and the band.
2024
Drummer Morten Skogstad took a break in the winter after 30 years and in came Thomas Farstad, another local guy and incredible drummer.
Stage Dolls are now preparing for a big Summer Tour in Norway, including playing with Journey in Oslo Spektrum and sharing stage with Alice Cooper at Trondheim Rocks.
See tour dates for more info and we’ll see you there!
